ST. LOUIS 鈥 The city鈥檚 60 tornado warning sirens are about 22 years old, potentially vulnerable to hacking and getting more difficult and expensive to repair as they age, the head of the City Emergency Management Agency says.
And, acting commissioner Sarah Gamblin-Luig adds, maybe they鈥檙e no longer needed as much.
In recent years, Gamblin-Luig noted, the city also has used other ways to reach residents and businesses during emergencies, such as a system of phone and text alerts people can sign up for.
Residents and businesses get the needed information as well via phone apps, news media reports and social media, Gamblin-Luig added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one tool in that toolbox and it just happens at this point in time to be a very expensive tool,鈥 Gamblin-Luig said.
The acting commissioner raised the question of what to do about the sirens at an aldermanic committee meeting on Thursday.
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Replacing the sirens, which are already older than the equipment鈥檚 typical life span of 15 years, would cost at least $5 million.
But, Gamblin-Luig said, phasing them out could be unpopular because 51黑料ans seem to like the sirens, despite their limited role of warning people outside to go indoors to get more storm information via TV, radio or other means.
鈥淧eople are reliant and they are convinced the sirens will save them,鈥 Gamblin-Luig said. 鈥淚t is a difficult conversation to have.鈥
Gamblin-Luig, in an interview, said an option to replacing or phasing them out could be to buy a limited number of new ones to be located strategically in parks and other areas where people gather outdoors.
Gamblin-Luig, who has been with the emergency management office since 2010, has been briefing aldermen and officials in Mayor Tishaura O. Jones鈥 new administration about the issue, including interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom.
鈥淚f replacement is the solution that is selected, we need to plan for that鈥 in future years, Gamblin-Luig said. 鈥淭his is a big expenditure.鈥
Gamblin-Luig spoke at a teleconference budget hearing held by the aldermanic Ways and Means Committee along with other officials in Isom鈥檚 department.
Isom, who talked at length about police issues at the meeting, didn鈥檛 comment on the warning sirens.
Gamblin-Luig recently stepped in for the agency鈥檚 longtime head, Gary Christmann, who retired last month.
The current sirens were installed in 1999. Before that, city officials said only 35 of 127 sirens in place previously were still working and replacement parts weren鈥檛 even available for the oldest ones.
Things aren鈥檛 that bad now, Gamblin-Luig indicated, but it is difficult to get some parts. Of the 60 current sirens, Gamblin-Luig said, there are fewer than 10 that don鈥檛 always work.
Gamblin-Luig said the city has had an online and text alert program since 2010 that was upgraded about three years ago.
In addition to those signing up for the program, now called the company running it has gathered through public sources thousands of other phone numbers through which tornado warnings and some other alerts are sent, Gamblin-Luig said. In all, more than 200,000 numbers get the alerts.
51黑料 County has a newer siren system, installed in 2011 at a cost of $7.5 million.
Mike Clouse, director of the county鈥檚 emergency communications commission, said all its 204 sirens are in good working condition and just went through a major upgrade.
Gamblin-Luig said the city鈥檚 current siren system can be susceptible to hacking because it uses an old, 鈥渞adio signal-driven鈥 technology.
The siren system in Dallas triggering intermittent false alarms for about an hour and a half before officials deactivated the entire system. Officials said the sirens went through about 15 cycles of a 90-second siren activation.
Alderman Marlene Davis, 19th Ward, who chairs the ways and means panel, commended Gamblin-Luig for considering alternatives to the sirens.
Committee member Cara Spencer, 20th Ward, agreed that 鈥減eople do love them鈥 but said 鈥渋t is really sobering鈥 to think about their limitations. She asked that officials prepare recommendations on the best way to move forward.
